This invention relates generally to the field of roller skates. More particularly, this invention relates to a roller skate brake which slows or stops the skate by engaging at least one of the wheels while preventing heat energy that is created from slowing the wheel from transferring to the wheel.
Traditional roller skates, having set the wheels in tandem, have long been used in the relatively controlled environment of a skating rink. In a skating rink, the skating surface is typically flat and smooth, and skaters travel in the same direction around an oval or circular track. Hence, there are few unexpected hazards. Therefore, there has been little need for an effective brake on the traditional roller skate.
Recently, however, a faster and more maneuverable type of roller skate has been introduced. Such skates, known as "in-line" skates with wheels mounted in line rather than in tandem can function similar to an ice skate. In-line skates are offered in the United States by several vendors, including Rollerblade, Variflex, Bauer, and Ultra Wheels. In-line skates appeal to the athletic old and young adults and hence persons who enjoy the outdoors. Such skates are commonly used outside, on uneven sidewalks, bicycle paths, and roads. One appealing feature of the in-line skates is the high speed that can be achieved. However, this may become hazardous to the skater and others when skating more rapidly than conditions allow. Hence, a variety of brakes for in-line skates have been proposed.
One proposed brake for in-line skates involves a thick friction pad that extends behind the heel of the skate. The thick friction pad is disposed above the skating surface and is made to swing down towards the skating surface by the skater's pivoting the skate about the axis of the rear wheel. As the skater raises the toe of the skate and rotates the heel downward, the friction pad behind the heel will contact the ground and stop the skate. Brake systems have also been used on tandem wheel skates which may also include (because the speeds are not so high with tandem wheel skates) a fixed friction pad that extends in front of the toe of the skate. In this case, the skater brings the friction pad to bear on the skating surface by raising the heel and lowering the toe. Such brake systems require either the toe to be raised or lowered suffer from a number of serious drawbacks including skater fatigue in operating the brake and difficulty in maneuvering the skate to engage the brake with the skating surface.
One particularly useful type of brake which does not require the toe to be raised or lowered is a mechanically activated brake which engages the ground to slow or stop the brake as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,211,409; 5,253,882; 5,316,325; 5,330,207; 5,564,718, the complete disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Such a brake system includes a carriage that pivots about the rear of the skate so as to bring the brake pad into contact with the skating surface when activated by an actuator which does not require either the heel or the toe to be lowered.
Another useful type of braking system is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,649,715 and 5,651,556, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. This braking system employs a sliding brake which slides relative to the skate frame to bring a braking pad into ground engagement.
Although some of such braking systems which engage a braking pad with a skating surface have proven to be generally successful in slowing or stopping the roller skates, it would be desirable to provide a braking system for a roller skate where ground engagement is not needed. In this manner, the need to place a pad on the ground to slow or stop a skate will be eliminated. This in turn, will provide improved control since the skater will not have a braking pad engaging the ground while slowing or stopping the skate. Further, it will eliminate the interference of the brake with the toe of the other foot when performing cross-overs, a skating maneuver in which one skate is placed in front of the other skate. Moreover, elimination of a bulky braking pad will make the skate more aesthetically pleasing. Some previously proposed braking systems have employed a brake pad which directly engages the wheel to slow or stop the skate. However, such a configuration is undesirable in that heat is created directly on the wheel's surface when the braking pad engages the wheel. Such heat may cause the wheels to melt, particularly since many wheels are now commonly constructed of urethane. Another problem is that such direct engagement may cause excessive wear to occur on the wheel surface.
Hence, for these and other reasons, it would be desirable to provide a skate braking system which will slow or stop a skater without engaging a brake pad with the ground and without excessively heating the wheels of the skate. Among other advantages, such braking system should be relatively easy to use and should not be bulky so as to interfere with the skater's movements.